The 7 worst phrases in Biotech marketing and how to fix them
Spend about ten minutes reading biotech websites and you’ll notice something odd as you swim around in the sea of paradoxes.
Apparently every company has:
cutting-edge technology
a revolutionary platform
transformative science
next-generation solutions
Which is amazing, because if all of that were true the entire scientific enterprise would have been completed sometime around 2004 and we'd've unlocked the mysteries of the universe (or design a packet that actually peels open from the "Peel here" label without causing us to have a rage-fuelled breakdown).
Unfortunately these phrases are everywhere. They sound impressive (in your head), but they don’t actually tell the reader anything.
Scientists – like most good humans – tend to prefer words that mean something. So here are seven phrases that show up constantly in biotech marketing, and what you might write instead.
1. “Cutting-edge technology”
This phrase appears so often it’s essentially become punctuation. The problem is that it describes absolutely nothing. Everything new in biotech is supposed to be “cutting edge”, otherwise there would be very little point doing it; it’d be ‘dull edged’?
Instead of telling people it’s cutting edge, explain what the technology actually does.
Instead of:
Our cutting-edge sequencing platform.
Try:
Our sequencing platform detects rare variants below 0.1% frequency for earlier detection of mutations.
That sentence took about three seconds longer to write and now the reader actually knows something.
2. “Revolutionary platform”
Biotech marketing loves a platform, preferably a revolutionary one. But if every platform were genuinely revolutionary, the scientific method would currently be running on version 47 but actually we’re maily running on tried and true assays. You don’t have to tell the reader something’s revolutionary when you can just show them.
Instead, explain what’s changed.
Instead of:
Our revolutionary platform transforms cell analysis.
Try:
Our platform measures gene expression and chromatin accessibility in the same single cell to show interactions that bulk sequencing misses.
Now the reader knows what the platform actually does, which is generally rather useful.
3. “Transformative science”
Companies often claim their science is transformative and you’ll usually find it amongst other grand claims in the dusty mission statement. But transformative of what, exactly? How? That’s rarely specified and so NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!
Try to describe the practical outcome.
Instead of:
Delivering transformative science for drug discovery.
Try:
We help drug discovery teams identify viable targets earlier in the development process.
Scientists are quite good at deciding for themselves whether something is transformative if you give them enough information to make the decision.
4. “Enabling discovery”
Reagent companies are particularly fond of this one. Apparently their products are “enabling discovery”. Despite the obvious, “Duh!”, that’s the whole point, the phrase is dripping with grandiosity (excellent word, that, big fan). It raises the question, what kind of discovery? Are we talking a postive western blot result or a shift in our understanding of the universe?
Instead, simply describe the experimental advantage.
Instead of:
Enabling discovery through innovative reagents.
Try:
Antibodies validated for immunoprecipitation, ChIP and flow cytometry..
Now a researcher can decide whether that’s useful for their work and what discoveries it’ll enable (or just let them get out the lab quicker for a tea break).
5. “Unlocking insights”
Euurgghh, this phrase appears everywhere in biotech marketing. Insights into what? Who knows. We’re back to the discovery issue.
Just say what becomes measurable.
Instead of:
Unlocking insights into disease biology.
Try:
Measure signalling pathway activity in single tumour cells..
It’s amazing how often clarity improves once you replace abstract language with actual information. Who knew?!
6. “Next-generation solutions”
This is a multi-bleerruurrgggh-problem. The “next-gen” thing is an issue because the next gen becomes the current gen which fades to the old gen, but we still use it. And of course “solutions” is so vague you’ll see in B2B marketing as often as you slapped across a “Plumbing Solutions” van. This is why it appears on roughly half the websites in the industry.
Instead, explain what is technically different.
Instead of:
Our next-generation CRISPR tools.
Try:
CRISPR libraries designed to minimise off-target editing in genetic screens.
It doesn’t need to be “next-gen” and you don’t need to say “solution” if you just say what it does. Scientists tend to find that sort of detail helpful.
7. “Powering innovation”
This phrase lives in, but impressively kills, company taglines. It’s just a rehash of enabling/accelerating discoveries. No surprises here, but it says nothing.
You need to explain the outcome.
Instead of:
Powering innovation in biotechnology.
Try:
Helping researchers identify disease mechanisms earlier in the discovery process.
Less dramatic perhaps, but at least it’s understandable.
A simple rule for Biotech and life science writing
If you remove an adjective and the sentence still means exactly the same thing, the adjective probably wasn’t doing much work.
Scientists are tired of grand claims, so you don’t need to sound impressive if what you offer is as good as you say it is – just show them.
Scientists just need to know:
what the technology does
how it works
why it matters
Everything else is optional.
At a loss for words? Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty.
Give me a shout